


Of Course I Know You

by Your_Clotpole



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Oblivious Merlin (Merlin), Pining Arthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:02:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29540013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Your_Clotpole/pseuds/Your_Clotpole
Summary: Merlin is about to settle in for a quite movie night, when his roommate Gwen comes back from a night drinking, except she's not alone.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 160





	Of Course I Know You

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is my first ever fic so please be gentle with me. Any constructive criticism is more then welcome and all kudos/comments are greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoy this quick piece.

Merlin stared at the TV currently running an old episode of a sitcom and he wondered what he should put on. It was Friday night and up until 30 minutes ago he had plans to go meet Will at the pub. Of course Will had called just as he was about to leave his flat to tell him work asked him to cover a shift. Merlin had considered going by himself but in the end opted for a casual night in with a movie. So now he was sat with the remote about to choose a movie, before going to get dressed out of the clothes he had chosen for the night and into comfy bed trousers and an old star wars shirt. 

But before he had a chance to do any of it, the door of his flat burst open, with it coming a loud laughter. Naturally, he ventured into the hallway to see what was happening. Standing there, or at least trying to, was his roommate Gwen. She was leaning happily against the wall and giggling loudly, at what though he wasn’t too sure, but he knew how hard she’d worked on her paper the whole week and deserved to get mindlessly wasted. She had obviously accomplished this and rather quickly too as it had only just turned 9pm, but this just further proved in his eyes that Gwen was even more of a lightweight then Merlin and he would be sure to mention that to her the next morning.

Just as Gwen leapt into his unprepared arms, causing him to stumble back a few steps before regaining his balance, the door of their flat clicked shut and he looked up to realise that Gwen hadn’t come home alone. 

In front of him in the cramped hallway stood a tall blonde guy, he was wearing a fitted top, dark jeans and a jacket which was crumpled, he imagined probably from where he had helped Gwen keep upright. The man was staring at him with his mouth slightly open for a few seconds before he straightened out and took an almost defensive stance. 

“Who are you?” The guy barked out not too pleasantly.

“Who am I? Who are you?” Merlin shot back without a second's thought, even though he knew exactly who he was talking to. 

Arthur Pendragon. Anyone who attended Camelot university knew who Arthur was, son of the school’s dean, captain of the football team and from what merlin could gather, an utter prat. They’ve only had a single encounter in person during his first year of studying at the place, but it hadn’t exactly been pleasant. 

Merlin had been running late for his further maths class which just happened to be right next door to where the economics class took place and on his way there Arthur had run right into him, his books had flown everywhere. After a moment Merlin was already starting to apologize even though he wasn’t the one to cause the whole accident, when Arthur just scoffed at him and walked away. It was safe to say his opinion of Arthur had not been the best and it probably hadn’t been improved by Morgana, who was not only one of Merlin’s closest friends but also Arthur’s sister, as she always had an annoying story to tell about her brother. 

Any other times they had happened to be in the same company of people Arthur always seemed to avoid him and not too subtly so.

And now he was standing here, in his flat, slightly red face, probably from all the mild shouting he was doing. He visibly shifted his weights from one side to the other. Merlin didn’t like the way Arthur was looking at him, almost trying to take in the whole view in front of him, he could see his eyes shifting up and down his body, the gaze was so intense he got lost in the moment, momentarily forgetting he had Gwen draped over himself. That is until he was firmly reminded when she shifted her weight to the other side, causing him to stumble yet again, and started blubbering about how much she had missed him and how they should hang out more often. He regained his balance with her and turned back to Arthur who was still staring at him intensely. 

“Right, well I’m her flatmate” He finally spoke up “So you can probably go now.”

“What and leave you to look after Gwen?”

“I think I’m quite capable of doing so!” he retorted at him.

And almost as if to prove him wrong, Gwen lent to her other side causing Merlin to go with her and Arthur had reached for her to stop them both from toppling over. 

“Oh Arthur hi!” came an excited squeal from Gwen as she let arm be draped over Arthur’s shoulder. Merlin followed his lead and maneuvered Gwen’s other hand to the same position. Then he nodded at Arthur towards the direction of her bedroom. Even with both of them half carrying her, it was a struggle to get Gwen into the room as she tried to twist out of their hold at every chance she had. 

Finally, they managed to drop her onto the bed. Her flats had been lost along the way to her bedroom so Merlin just grabbed the duvet, placed it over her and gestured at Arthur to leave before he himself followed after turning out the lights. 

He made his way over to the kitchen where he started collecting things Gwen would probably need in the morning, some paracetamol, a glass of water, and a bucket. He was just about to head back into Gwen’s room to leave all the items by her bed when he realised Arthur was still standing there with him in the kitchen. 

“Oh” he said after a second. Then he collected his thoughts and followed by “I got this now, you can go home.”

“Are you sure?” Arthur asked his voice now much more calmer than it had been just a minute ago.

“Yeah, you probably have much better plans for the night then to sit around my flat.”

“Oh, well actually I only really had plans with Gwen tonight.” Arthur said and rubbed his neck in an all too endearing way that Merin purposefully tried to not notice. 

“Right sorry yeah.” Merlin cringed internally at just how obvious that should have been to him. “Well I’m sorry your night drinking was cut short” he continued. 

“I was actually there as designated driver for Gwen, I know she’s been working herself recklessly with that bio paper and thought she deserved a break.” and then almost as if realizing what he said Arthur looked down and Merlin for a second thought he caught a glimpse of a blush forming on his cheeks. Maybe Arthur wasn’t such a Prat after all and he must have been at least somewhat okay to warrant being friends with Gwen. 

And since Merlin was always a sucker for giving people second chances he said only with slight hesitation,

“Well you’re always welcome to hang out here, my plans for the night got cancelled and I was just about to put on a movie, even have chinese takeaway that should be arriving soon.”

“Are you sure? I’d hate to intrude on your night.” came the almost too polite answer, as if spoken shyly.

“Yes I’m sure, well only if you promise not to act like an utter prat.” 

At that Arthur seemed to be surprised, but only for a second before a smile played at the corner of his lips and he quickly retorted,

“I only act like a prat to certain idiots.” he responded light heartedly.

Merlin gasped with a mocked offence “Well then surely I should have been spared from your grand pratishness.”

“Do you really need me to clue you in on that or are you just pretending to be that thick headed?” he asked lightly. 

Merlin unwillingly laughed at that, it was strange just how fast this man in front of him had gone from Morgan’s brother who he only disliked, to someone he could casually banter around with like this. 

Merlin then offered for Arthur to head into the small living room while he went to drop off Gwen’s hangover essentials. Just as he had done that, there was a knock on the door which he opened to receive his takeaway food. Grabbing a couple of plates on his way back he brought that and the bag of food into the living room, happy that he had thought to order extra incase Gwen had wanted some when she’d gotten home, but now that she was fast asleep he could at least share it with Arthur. 

After placing the food out onto the tiny coffee table and gesturing for Arthur to dig in, Merlin sat himself down next to him on the also small sofa. He scoops some rice onto his plate before handing the container to Arthur who does the same. They continue this with the rest of the foods and then Arthur glances up at him.

“What no chicken?” he was, quite obviously confused at the fact.

“Yeah no sorry, I’m vegetarian.” 

Arthur looks down and mutters “Of course you are” to himself and Merlin might have even been offended had it not been for the soft way Arthur was now smiling up at him. 

He soon realises he’s staring at that smile when Arthur averts his eyes away from him to focus on his food and if the lights hadn’t been so dim Merlin might have thought that there was yet another blush creeping across Arthurs cheeks. 

That’s when Merlin remembers that he had invited Arthur to stay and watch a movie and when he looks up at the TV he sees ‘The Princess Bride’ queued up. 

“The Princess Bride?” he questions, turning to look at Arthur and raising his eyebrow. 

“Yeah, I- um we don’t have to watch it or anything it just uh.. caught my eye is all.” Arthur stumbles out. 

“No it’s fine really.” Merlin reassures, “Just didn’t peg you for someone who would watch it, is all.” 

“It’s got sword fighting” Arthur says in a form of answer and shrugs his shoulders. 

They sit in a companionable silence watching the first ten minutes of the movie and eating their food, Merlin notices Arthur giving him side glances every now and then throughout the movie, before he turns to Merlin again. The light from the TV suddenly gets brighter and Merlin can’t help but notice how it illuminates Arthur’s face, highlighting his jaw and making his eyes impossibly more blue. He almost forgets he’s meant to be waiting for Arthur to say something and quickly nods to indicate for him to go on.

“So” Arthur starts but then clears his throat before continuing “Are you and Gwen, uh a thing?” 

Merlin takes a second before answering, not entirely sure why Arthur is asking or how much he should tell him. 

“No, I’m gay.” he states bluntly, really hoping Arthur isn’t a homophobe. 

“Right.” came the short answer from him.

“Right?” Merlin repeated. Losing some hope that Arthur could have actually turned out to be a nice guy. He started at him straight and Arthur stared back clearly not understanding that it was once again his que to talk. With a sigh, Merlin was about to speak again when Arthur started blinking rapidly and then gesturing almost manically with his hands. 

“Sorry” he rushed out quickly “Yes right as in cool uh as in yeah I.. me too, well kind of um I’m bi- uh bisexual.” After saying all that he glances down and Merlin notices how he starts fiddling with the sleeve of his jacket. 

Merlin finds himself glad to know that information even if he’s not quite sure why. Soon though he remembers Arthur’s original question and now realizes why he had asked.

“You should probably know that Gwen is currently head over heels for a guy called Lance though.” He lets Arthur know as a warning, because there really would be no point in making an attempt at that when Gwen was so obviously smitten with Lance she didn’t even spare any other guy a glance.

But when Arthur looks back up at him it’s questioningly.

“Yeah I know, I was the one who introduced them.” he states matter of factly. 

At this Merlin is completely puzzled. Did Arthur introduce the two before he realized that he wanted to ask Gwen out himself? And if he knew the both of them then surely he must have seen how blindly in love they were so why would he even ask in the first place? Or maybe, he thought to himself, Merlin had completely misunderstood the meaning behind it, though what else Arthur could have meant he wasn’t sure. He doesn’t really know what else to say and Arthur seems to have gone back to staring down at his sleeve so he turns back to the movie, but before he’s properly able to be drawn back in, Arthur speaks up again. 

“Before when you said.. What film did you expect me to choose?” He asked gently.

Merlin wondered if his voice had gotten slightly quieter than before, it felt like he was almost worried to ask the question, which to Merlin seemed absolutely ridiculous. But instead of focusing on that he focused on the question itself. He mulled it over, he wasn’t sure he even had any expectations beforehand. He tried to think of the impression he had of Arthur up until the last hour or so and since he hasn’t had the best history with him it was the impression of a spoiled and entitled guy, who was also a player and often partied too hard. But since he had thought about it more this past hour there really was no way sweet Gwen would be friends with such a prat, let alone trust him enough to look after her on a night out drinking. 

Realising that Arthur was still waiting on an answer from him he quickly spoke,

“I don’t know probably something with a lot of guns and car chases.” he says “or at least that’s the impression your sister gave me.” he adds.

Arthur's eyes suddenly go wide. He doesn't say more than a soft ‘oh’ for a while before continuing with a deflated statement of “You know Morgana.”

Merlin is about to answer him when a realisation dawns on him. The very first thing he did after he brought Gwen home was to ask Merlin who he was. They had managed to put her to bed, eat food and start a movie before Merlin even realised he had never actually properly answered that question. All Arthur knew was that Merlin was Gwen's flatmate, that was it. Of course since Merlin knew exactly who Arthur was in hadn’t occurred to him to introduce himself properly. They were sat together, watching a movie and Arthur probably didn’t even know his name. How could he not offer that information up before, Arthur must have been too polite or too awkward to ask it of him after all the talking they had already done.

Now it was his turn to blush, he could feel the tips of his ears heating up and making him instead thankful for the dim lighting, though he hadn’t actually glanced down just stared back at Arthur’s now confused face so he wasn’t really too sure the light made a difference to the visibility of his reddened face.

He knew he need to say something and soon, so he quickly blurted out,

“I’m Merlin, by the way, sorry for only mentioning that now, me and Morgana are friends.”  
He thought his sentence, though rushed, was pretty clear so he wasn't really sure as to why Arthur continued to look even more surprised. But his surprise quickly morphed into disbelief, clearly written in every line on his face. 

“Merlin I know who you are!” he half shouted at him.

Which made it Merlin’s turn to be confused. 

“Oh I'm sorry I thought..” He started but was soon cut off by Arthur’s raised hand and a look of such determination on his face Merlin would have been too stunted to say anything else if he wanted to.

So he patiently waited as Arthur looked down at his lap, took a deep breath and looked back up, his bright blue eyes locked with Merlin’s. Merlin knew if the circumstances were different he could probably get lost in those eyes, but he knew better then indulge such fantasies so instead he nodded for Arthur to continue. 

“I’ve actually been meaning to approach you for a while now.” He said all while looking like he was fighting hard with himself to maintain eye contact. At this Merlin tried to wrack his brain for what he could have possibly done to attract Arthur’s attention.

Just a moment later Arthur sighed softly and obviously gave up with the eye contact since he closed his eyes completely before starting to lean in. 

Confusion bubbled up in Merlin and he wondered at what point had their bodies gotten so close to each other but he didn't have much time to question that or anything else as soon his brain short circuited and hadn't turned back on even when their lips finally met. It was only when Arthur started to pull away that his mind rebooted and he chased after Arthur’s lips. The kiss was still short however and too soon after he pushed on Arthur’s soft if slightly chapped lips they once again broke apart. 

Merlin peeled his eyes back open to find Arthur looking up at him, he looked slightly flustered and even more worried as he was biting his bottom lip and probably awaiting Merlin's reaction. At this Merlin couldn't help but smile at him softly, which had proved to be the right move when Arthur smiled back brightly at him and he soon was propelling forward yet again. 

This time the kiss lasted longer and kept deepening as Arthur placed a hand on the back of Merlin’s neck pulling him further in and Merlin returned the favour by clinging his hands to Arthurs side. It was like they were both trying to savour each other, Merlin suddenly didn’t know how he had managed to go through his life without this and when they once again had to break off to come up for air he found himself instantly missing the warmth of Arthur’s mouth against his. 

Arthur looked dazed with his lips slightly swollen and reddened cheeks and Merlin knew he probably looked the same. They were both smiling happily at each other and Merlin knew he wanted to continue kissing that smile for the rest of the night. 

“Well Gwen is going to be in for a surprise in the morning.” Arthur said lightly. Which caused Merlin to throw his head back in laughter because yes, she would be.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading this, feel free to leave any comments. I was thinking of maybe continuing this as a series or maybe writing a prequel from Arthur's POV? Let me know what you think.


End file.
